In more ways than one, we are transitioning between seasons. The golds and yellows of early fall… …quickly turned into the browns and bare branches of late fall… …and as of today, turned even more quickly into a winter scene. Seeing the photos above, it is hard to believe only 14 days ago our last class of 2018 concluded! Now, the Sievers Shop items are being returned to the artists and we’ll soon begin to work on the 2019 schedule, marking our official 40th anniversary of Sievers School. This season, we offered 37 classes taught by 31 instructors. The total number of students was 364 and 82% of those enrolled had been here previously. […]

Before these glorious days of September turn to more traditional fall weather, we wanted to share some Washington Island views and an old elementary school poem about this lovely month. September The goldenrod is yellow; The corn is turning brown, The trees in apple orchards With fruit are bending down. The gentian’s bluest fringes Are curling in the sun, In dusty pods the milkweed Its hidden silk has spun. The hedges flaunt their harvest In every meadow nook, And asters on the hillside Makes aster in the brook. From dewy lanes at morning The grape’s sweet odors rise, At noon the roads all flutter With yellow butterflies. By all these lovely tokens September days are […]

Before we begin our season of classes on Saturday, May 26 and welcome the first of our students and instructor Susan Frame to teach Beginning Weaving, it seemed like time to share more photos of spring on Washington Island. With the Beginning Weaving class and all the others that will follow this year, we’ll have many photos to share telling the Sievers story. Today, it’s a story in photos of our home and the simple, quiet beauty that can be found on Washington Island. Looking back to the opening sentences from the first year Sievers brochure (1979) we read, “For those of you who have visited Door County in Wisconsin we need not tell you about the exhilarating beauty of the area. Washington Island, we think, is the best…it […]

How do we know it’s springtime? First, the calendar tells us it started a week ago. Second, ice is starting to break up along the shoreline. Third, even though the feet of the willow trees are still in snow and ice, their buds open in the bright blue sky. Fourth, it’s Quilts of Valor time! 2018 marks the sixth consecutive year a Washington Island Quilts of Valor event has been held in the Sophie Studio. Co-ordinated by Ellen Graf, this year six teams of two worked in the studio, along those who came for a day to make the presentation cases for the finished quilts. In addition, several individuals sewed at home and one team worked long distance from Arizona. The teams were formed using the “Under […]

Once each week for the past several months, we’ve been sharing Sievers history, in words and photos on our Facebook page. We will continue these posts in 2018, but on a more intermittent basis. As we come to the end of the year, this blessing of Jackson Studio and Tomson Hall given in 1981 soon after Tomson Hall (the barn) was completed, seemed appropriate. Within the walls of Jackson Studio and Tomson Hall one feels a center of breathless activities and hears a restful breathing Surrounded by hours of moving one finds a moment of quiet stillness In the heart of much involvement one feels the words of withdrawal In the midst of the action of the day there is contemplation And […]

The first of the month and a new, fresh page on the calendar makes us realize that time will go by quickly as we approach February 1, 2018 and registration week at Sievers. Our schedule of classes is not set yet, but it will be soon. Many of the instructors that have been teaching at Sievers will be returning. Some have decided to be on sabbatical in 2018 and return in a future year. They are: Judy Hasheider, Ruth Manning and Karen Tembreull. Retiring from teaching (but not from taking classes or making baskets) are Beginning Basket Weaving teachers Kay Normann and Drew Tibbetts. Returning to Sievers in 2018 are: Betty Glynn Carlson (Navajo Weaving) Chad Alice Hagen (Sketchbooks and Miniature Book Necklaces), Mary Hettmansperger (Expressions in Jewelry) […]

After holding on for so long, the last of the fall leaves are on the ground and signs of the transition into winter are beginning to appear. We now see a few snow flurries in the air and ice forming on the ponds and shoreline. There’s not much color in the landscape, but it is November, a month when you have to appreciate the subtleties of nature. Island life becomes quieter now. A few more of the seasonal businesses are closing their doors for the winter and will take some time to enjoy hearth and home. Sievers is quiet and busy at the same time as we’re preparing for our 2018 season. Between this season and then, we wish you some quiet time with all […]

Wow! Where did the time go? Our final class of the 2017 season, Rag Rug Weaving with Deb Sharpee, finished last Saturday. It seems like such a short time ago when we greeted the first students on June 5. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun! As usual, the rag rug studio was filled with colorful fabrics, great design inspirations and ideas, laughter and friendship. From the start when the carpet warp rolled onto the looms to the finish when quite a variety of rugs and runners rolled off, not a heddle, shuttle, sewing machine, student or teacher were idle. Instead of full-sized rugs, some of the students wove runners like the one on the left. In preparation for the rug on the right, the […]